THE TREATMENT OF THE SHOOT 139 



cient time to swell up and become stored with food material, 

 but when the supply of water begins to diminish, so that the 

 upper buds do not grow out into long laterals. 



In spring, and during the production of the so-called second 

 shoots in June and July, the general upward current of water 

 presents a strong difficulty. Any " pinching back " at this 

 period calls forth almost immediately the expansion of the 

 uppermost buds of the remaining branch. The younger the axis 

 is, the more readily will the buds grow out into shoots if the 

 supply of water is increased ; for the cells have only shortly 

 passed out of the stage in which their power of reproduction 

 was greatest, and they easily reassume that condition. Thus 

 in many trees (Peach, Ash, Acacia), in years of exceptional 

 activity, the recently-formed buds of that year's shoots will 

 grow out {prolcptic shoots). 



To prevent disappointment, we state emphatically, as the 

 practice is very common, that no fixed rule can be laid down 

 for the commencement of summer-pruning. Trees may even 

 be pinched to death. The favourable time for this operation 

 depends upon the climate, the soil, the variety, and even upon 

 the individual characteristics of the plant. The cultivator 

 must himself judge whether the shoots have reached such a 

 stage of maturity that an elongation of the uppermost buds 

 will not take place. 



If the pruning in August has not resulted in a sufficient 

 swelling up of the buds, in districts which have a long autumn, 

 an October or autumn-pruning may be resorted to. In so 

 doing, the tree may be cut back still farther, and the water 

 supply be restricted to a smaller number of buds without fear 

 of causing any of them to elongate. But here, too, in each 

 individual case only can it be ascertained by experiment how 

 far a tree may be cut back so as to produce the desired effect, 

 namely, the production in the following year of a large number 

 of " short shoots." In such shoots the amount of food matter 

 assimilated by a leaf spreads itself over a much smaller stem 

 area, and the shoot is therefore richly provided with reserve 

 material, which is an essential condition for the formation of 

 flowering buds. 



If the pruning has been too close (which is sometimes 



